Opinion: Here we go again – Jim Gerstein – POLITICO.com

an overwhelming 90 percent of Jews don’t consider Israel as one of their top two issues.

candidates must demonstrate they are “good enough” on Israel. However, once they pass this threshold — as Obama, Kerry and Bill Clinton did — Jewish voters move on to consider issues that actually affect their daily lives, just like other voters.

This threshold is actually fairly easy to pass because most Jewish voters hold very progressive views regarding America and the Arab-Israeli conflict. In fact, large majorities want the U.S. to play an active leadership role to resolve the conflict, even if it means publicly disagreeing with or exerting pressure on both the Palestinians and the Israelis to take the steps necessary for peace.